What wasn't accomplished by thousands of feet of climbing in the Ozarks was left to a flat, 30.6 kilometre race of truth through the soy fields of central Missouri – at last some decisive time gaps at the top of general classification would occur. Reigning American time trial champion David Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream) headlined the show at the Missouri State Fairgrounds, blazing through the stage five individual time trial in 36:30 to win the stage and wrest race leadership from the sprinters.

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Beijing Olympic Games time trial silver medalist Gustav Larsson (Team Saxo Bank) finished second, 30 seconds behind Zabriskie. Tom Zirbel (Bissell Pro Cycling), runner-up to Zabriskie two weekends prior at the US national time trial championships, stopped the clock in third place with a 44-second deficit to the Garmin-Slipstream rider. Larsson and Zirbel also hold second and third respectively on general classification with the same time deficits as the time trial results.

Zabriskie was in good spirits following his dual stage and general classification triumph, capping off a good day of racing for the Garmin-Slipstream team on both sides of the Atlantic. "We had Ryder [Hesjedal] win at the Vuelta today and then me winning here is a good day for the team," said Zabriskie. "My rhythm was good and I was able to hold speed on the rollers and pick up even more speed when I was finished.

"The last little punch was probably the hardest with the wind and there were a few bumps in the corners, but it’s not like I had an enormous amount of power sprinting out of the corners,” he said. “Yes, it was a good ride."

Zabriskie's run of good form in the latter portion of the season was primarily intended for retaining national title for the fourth consecutive year, but Missouri's place on the calendar was a convenient venue to race as well. "I started the season really early at the Tour of California and I was in really good shape there," said Zabriskie. "My goal this season was to do well at California, get through the Giro, support the team at the Tour and then win nationals. That’s pretty much how it’s gone.

"Through the Tour I was getting things on Twitter that this race [Tour of Missouri - Ed.] was in trouble and might not happen. Then they said it was on and my targeting [time trial] nationals and it being so close, it worked out well," he said.

Zabriskie has donned yellow at stage races before, most notably the Tour de France, but with two stages left in Missouri this could be the first stage race triumph of Zabriskie's career. "I have the capabilities but it’s never really panned out for me," said Zabriskie. "This one looks pretty good so far."

While Zabriskie's navigation of the time trial circuit went like clockwork, runner-up Larsson twice encountered motorcycle interference in the technical closing kilometers. The incidents disrupted his rhythm, nearly caused a crash and cost valuable seconds.

"I had a big problem in the last three kilometres," said Larsson. "I was held up by the motor bikes and I couldn't take the proper line. I was braking in to corners and almost stopping so I lost a lot of momentum and power.

"The thing is as a bike rider you go through the corners really fast but the motor bikes didn't see me coming,” he said. “I was going twice the speed or even faster into the corner. He was just stopping in my line and I had to brake full-on and almost hit him. I had to start from zero. The problem was I was yelling at him to get out of my way, but he still stayed ahead of me and the problem happened in the next corner as well."

Larsson realises that taking the leader's jersey from Zabriskie with only two stages remaining will be a difficult undertaking, but he's pleased with how he's been riding in Missouri. "I'm in good shape and I hope to do a good worlds as well and this is a good preparation for that," said Larsson. "I've been looking forward to the time trial and just wanted to finish in the pack the other days because I always thought that I would be able to do a good time trial. But Zabriskie is obviously too strong for me.

"I think to be able to take it [yellow jersey - Ed.] now will be really hard but I heard the last day is a really hard circuit so of course I'm going to try there,” he said. “But it’s really hard there, too, to get a break and put in 30 seconds or something. He is going to have good backing from the team."

Zirbel, the only non-ProTour rider in the top six, knew the time trial parcours would play to his strengths as a rouleur. "Pre-riding the course this morning I was pretty excited because I thought it was a good course for myself,” said Zirbel. “I cited Gustav [Larsson] as being a favourite just because we are bigger, more powerful riders and the course really suited us. Bissell as a whole is a good time trial team and so best case scenario was that we came into this stage all with the same time [on general classification].

"I tried to take it out a little bit harder on the first half because I thought I went out a little conservative in the nationals course,” said Zirbel. “I felt really strong in the second half and still felt like I had a good amount of power and that’s just from feeling good all week. I've been excited for this time trial. I'm happy with third, the two guys that beat me are some of the fastest in the world so I can't be too disappointed."

Zirbel currently occupies third place on general classification, but fourth place's Marco Pinotti (Columbia-HTC) looms behind the Bissell Pro Cycling rider. "Well, I have the full [one] second buffer to fourth place and Columbia is a great team, but I will rely on my team as well as a little bit of luck," said Zirbel. "Hopefully a break will go early and eat up those sprint time bonuses. It’s going to be a tough two days. We haven't had the aggression in the first few days that we had last year in Missouri. I think it’s all building up toward the weekend and we are expecting a battle."

Chrono specialists unseat the sprinters

Birthday boy Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly Cycling Team) was an early occupant of the time trial's hot seat, recording a time of 39:24 on the counter-clockwise circuit starting and finishing on the sprawling Missouri State Fairgrounds. Columbia-HTC's Kanstantsin Siutsou was the first rider to break the 39 minute barrier, crossing the line in 38:56 to set a new best time.

The 38th rider to start, Scott Zwizanski (Kelly Benefit Strategies), bumped Siutsou from the top of the standings with a time of 37:42, the first rider of the day to break the 38 minute barrier. Zwizanski, winner of time trial stages at the Vuelta Ciclista del Uruguay and Tour de Beauce, would soon relinquish his position atop the leader board to Zirbel.

The 31-year-old Zirbel bested Zwizanski by 28 seconds but knew his tenure in the hot seat was in jeopardy when the day's 61st starter Zabriskie blasted through the 10-mile intermediate split line in 19:26, 42 seconds better than Zirbel and 32 seconds faster than Zwizanski.

Zabriskie crossed the finish line in 36:30, besting Zirbel by 44 seconds and setting the standard for the time trial heavyweights to follow.

Levi Leipheimer (Astana), the 74th rider to roll out of the start house, bettered Zirbel's split time by four seconds, but trailed Zabriskie by 36 seconds. Leipheimer faded slightly over the latter portion of the time trial and finished in 37:39, 25 seconds in arrears of Zirbel and 1:09 behind Zabriskie.

The 80th rider to set out on the course was Swedish time trial specialist Larsson and the Saxo Bank rider soon set the second-best split time of the day, reaching the 10-mile mark in 19:45, 19 seconds slower than Zabriskie. Larsson had to contend with a motorcycle twice impeding his progress in the closing three kilometres, but still recorded a time of 37:00, the second-fastest time of the day.

Of the remaining 35 riders to race only four-time Italian time trial champion Marco Pinotti (Columbia-HTC) would threaten the day's top three placings, when he crossed the finish line in 37:15, a slender one second behind Zirbel's third place time.

The Tour of Missouri's penultimate stage takes place on Saturday as the peloton faces 177.5 kilometres of racing between Chillicothe and St. Joseph. Time bonuses are available at two intermediate sprint lines in addition to the finish. The riders also have one opportunity to earn mountains points 11.5 kilometres from the finish.